27 January 2013 - Linyanti to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Up at 5 for our last jeep ride. 

Saw giraffe, elephant (none charged us), impala, zebra, hippo and lots of birds. Didn't find anything we hadn't seen before which was a bit disappointing.

Giraffe 

 Greater kudu

Knobbilled duck 

 Storks

 Warthog

Impala with warthog at the back

Got to the airstrip at 9.30, had a cuppa waiting for us. The plane arrived to take us to Kasane, still in Botswana, about 30min north. Very warm day, uneventful flight.

 On the way to Kasane

We were met at Kasane airport by a driver and car who took us to the Zimbabwe border about 30mins away. Went through immigration at Botswana then immigration into Zimbabwe. Visa cost US$30 each. Took a bit of time, they still hand write receipts and once the officer gets more than 10 visa applications he won't process anymore until he's keyed the previous 10 into his computer. So Terry and I, Steve and Maria had to wait about 15 mins while he did his data entry.

Eventually we were on our way to Vic Falls. Took about 50mins. The guide in this car was trying to tell us to book a heli ride that afternoon because it was going to rain tomorrow but we gathered that was just a sales pitch. So we told him we'd consider what we'd do and be in touch.

Vic Falls hotel is gorgeous. Very colonial. Built in 1904 by the English. It's had many renovations over the years and looks like other British hotels we've stayed at in India and Raffles in Singapore. We had a light lunch at around 2.30 on the Terrace which was lovely.

 Cocktails on the terrace

 Terry and Pam together with Steve and Maria decided to do a 25min heli ride that afternoon. We got "Duly" our concierge to organise it. We headed off soon after. The heli ride was fantastic, gave a great oversight of the immensity of the falls, took lots of photos. They do a video of your flight which we watched but declined to buy.

 All photos above taken from the helicopter

Headed back to the hotel for more cocktails and buffet dinner. They put on an African dance routine for 45mins which was very traditional and interesting. Some of the dancers were dressed in St Kilda colours but don't think there was any relevance....

African dancers, notice the colour of the costumes!

Lovely dinner, great variety and very tasty. Nice to have a change from the last 10 days.

Headed to bed around 10.